1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to printing control devices and printing control methods for controlling printing apparatuses for processing print data including a security level added thereto, to storage media storing computer-readable programs therein, and to computer-readable programs.
2. Description of the Related Art
A technology to prevent documents, securities for example, from being printed in duplicate is known. For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-001578 describes a technology in which an ID of security print data output in a normal manner is stored in a printer and reprinting is performed only when an ID of print data that is designated to be printed is determined not to have been printed in the normal manner.
Also, a numbering technology is known as a method for preventing duplicate printing. In this technology, a unique number is embedded in printed recording media using digital watermarks. If an illegal printed medium is found, when, where, and who performed the printing is specified.
In known printing control devices, when a recording medium jam occurs during a print job in which a security level is set, the print job is processed similarly to normal print data, in which a security level is not set. Thus, after recovery from the recording medium jam, the print job is printed out and is visible. Accordingly, printing control for a print job in which a security level is set cannot function effectively. Thus, there is little point in carrying out a secure printing process.
For example, recording media can be removed from a printer before toner is fused to the recording media by a fuser, due to an occurrence of a recording media jam. Or, the recording media can be removed from a printer when, due to a recording media jam, toner has been fused to only 1/n of the recording media. In either case, after recovering from the recording media jam, numbering information at the occurrence of the recording media jam is reset in a printing medium in which the recording media jam occurred. Thus, a numbering function cannot return to a normal state, and many printed materials having the same numbered value are generated.
In particular, when printed material is caught in a paper ejection port, multiple copies including the same printed content and having the same numbering information are generated.